Fear of 'great bodily harm' key to verdict

The reporting by this newspaper on the killing of Trayvon Martin should be viewed as contributing to the ignorance of its readers.

The article states that George Zimmerman deemed Trayvon Martin suspicious, followed him and confronted him. The two scuffled and Zimmerman shot Martin once in the chest.

Using these reported "facts" one would conclude that George Zimmerman is guilty of murder. In fact, the jury believed that Zimmerman was the one who was confronted by Martin and he struck Zimmerman in the face, knocked him to the ground and pummeled his head on a concrete sidewalk causing "great bodily harm."

Even the president, a former professor of constitutional law, doesn't mind misinforming the public.

President Barack Obama asked if the Florida Zimmerman trial verdict would be the same if Trayvon Martin was armed and stood his ground.

The president said, "And do we actually think he would have been justified in shooting Mr. Zimmerman, who had followed him in a car, because he felt threatened?" One has to fear that one's life is in imminent danger or fear imminent "great bodily harm." The president knows that. But for the left, truth and truthfulness is not an important value.